GERMAN SOLDIER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1939, Page 3

GERMAN SOLDIER

INVENTOR OF A GREAT TRADITION YOUNG AND SENTIMENTAL. BUT SUPER-EFFICIENT. A portrait of the German soldier 21 years after Germany laid down her arms at Versailles is given by Percival Knauth in the “New York Times." The years, he says, have changed his outward appearance but little. He is still a sturdy, stocky figure in heavy leather boots, baggy breeches and coat, and potlike steel helmet. But revolutionary changes within his country have not left him untouched. The new army of the Third Reich differs radically from other conscript armies of the world in the same measure as the German soldier differs from the French poilu, the British Tommy, and the American doughboy. For one thing, he is probably younger, since most first-line troops of the German army are in their late ’teens or early twenties. His superior officers are not much older. His noncommissioned officers may be older than his lieutenant.

For another thing, he is not just a man in uniform but a highly trained soldier. He has behind him the practical experience of four weeks of the Polish campaign, which prove beyond doubt that he knows how to put to practical use what he has learned. He has the soldier’s mind which begins to function as soon as lie puts on his uniform and binds his helmet strap. “HEIMAT”

But a soldier is a soldier, no matter what his uniform, and in his off moments the German soldier is not much different from his comrades in foreign lands. When he has reached his objective his first thoughts are to eat and sleep. He carries with him his “iron rations” of powdered soup, hard brown broad, chocolate, and sausage, and coffee in his canteen. But he is resourceful in adding to these unimaginative rations and adept at whipping up a meal from the produce of the land. He carries coffee in his canteen because the Fuehrer frowns on alcohol and has forbidden its rationing to the army. That does not mean that the soldier does not drink, however. Soldiers returned from the Polish campaign with their throats raw from the bite of Polish vodka. “We practically lived on the stuff, sometimes,” they will tell you. If they can get beer they ask no more from heaven, and on rare occasions it may be brought up from the rear. Sentiment plays a large part in the life of the German soldier. He writes long letters home and writes often. He delights in showing his comrades the pictures of wife, mother, or sweetheart which he carries in his wallet, expanding proudly upon her virtues. He thinks often sentimentally 'of the “Heimat,” his homeland. Most of his songs concern the Heimat —or his girl. The most popular of present-day songs is “Erika”; another' one of three or four years ago was “Lore.” which was sung so often it was forbidden, finally. His newest song, “Fox' We’re Sailing Against England,” is, strictly speaking, a sailor’s song, but it, too, for all its martial air, has true German sentiment.

3 These marching songs are as typi- ? cal of the German soldier as his helmet. Those who have often seen greyj clad columns swinging down the dusty highways remember the men by their voices. They sing in chorus in re--5 sponse to numbers called out by their t non-coms, for one of their first duties - is to learn a booklet of songs by heart and recognise them by number. The tunes will move even the weariest soldier to straighten his back and . swing his step and enter a barracks , town appearing fresh and ready. 1 CLASS-CONSCIOUSNESS. On duty the German soldier loses 1 much of his youthful exuberance. Here - the spirit of old-time army discipline f asserts itself and he becomes a ma- . chine. But the Third Reich Army is . striving to get away from the spirit of , blind obedience which, often abused. 1 sometimes proved fatal in the World i War army. His superiors expect obedience, of course, but along with it ’ they are striving to inculcate individual initiative, which is much empha- - sised in this new army. i They are trying to create a closer . relationship between the private and , his superior, too. They speak often j of “comradeship” and assert that it . should exist between officers and men as well as among the men alone In a measure they have achieved this, since ■ the knowledge required of each soldier in order to be an effective part in I the complicated machines of modern ■ war has given him increased individuality and self-consciousness. But the class-consciousness of German army circles, where officers are still very superior beings, is proving difficult to erase. The Third Reich soldier has just begun to comprehend the full meaning of Napoleon’s words: "Every private carries a field marshal’s baton in his knapsack.” Some of his highest officers have risen from the ranks of the Reichswehr. But the idea is new to him, he has not taken it fully to heart as yet. TRAINING. In judging the German soldier today it must always be remembered that he grew out of the Reichswehr, that “100,000-man army” which, though small in numbers, brought training up to the highest point. This force was the elite troop to which the best of ! the Prussian officers such as the late ■ General von Fritsch and General von ■ Brauchitsch devoted their efforts. , The new German soldier is trained ( in the same spirit. In keeping with 1 it, he is more of an individualist than , any German soldier ever was before , and, though he is only a cog in a huge machine, he knows what makes the ] machine click'. . His military education, it must be remembered, began long before he entered the military service. (The greater body of Germany's first-line ( troops have had five or six years’ r training under National Socialism). He learned the rudiments of military theory and discipline with the Hitler

Youth. His knowledge was developed with the Storm Troops, his drill was perfected there and with the labour corps. When he joins the army he is therefore anything but a raw recruit. Fie is a soldier ready for the final polish. The swagger air of the German soldier comes from the knowledge that he is good. Off duty he is inclined to wear his visored cap tilted at a rakish angle and make the most of his snappy uniform to impress the girls. On duty he is conscious that he has equipment which is the best that can be procured and that his training is the best in the world. He is convinced that his soldier’s duty is the highest duty to the Fatherland. He has sworn obedience to his supreme commander, the Fuehrer. In general he has great faith in Herr Hitler, and in the National Socialist Reich. But his real faith is in his army, of which he is very proud. In this he is like his forefathers. SOLDIERISM. But for all that he does not like war —paradoxical as that may seem. His belief is that a strong army is necessary’ to maintain peace. He doesn't believe that “soldierism" is synonymous with militarism. Ho will deny that Germany is a militaristic nation. Soldierism. he believes, is a mental attitude in contrast to militarism. Militarism, he will say, connotes lust for power; soldierism, duty to the nation. He may not express these sentiments in this manner, but that is what they boil down to. He believes that' this war is the result of the stubbornness of other nations which refuse to grant Germany her “vital rights." He is willing to call-it off at any time, but if it continues he says he will stick it through. His duty is to fight as long as he is ordered to fight and not think much about the reason.